One man will do something that appears to be impossible, Charles Ross will perform every character of The Lord of the Rings in his one-man stage adaptation. There will be no make-up, no props, and no costumes, but one man performing 55 to 60 characters. And this isn’t even the first time Charles Ross did this! A few years ago, he wrote and performed his one-man version of Star Wars and then, in 2003 after The Return of the King was finally released, Ross began to work on his one-man version of LOTR. Now he is on tour one again, performing this Saturday at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia.

Charles Ross and the One Ring

After his successful one-man Star Wars show, Ross began to think of new challenges and since he loved the movie trilogy as well as the LOTR books his mind was set. So what can the audience expect? According to Ross himself, “it is like watching a mad person“:

“… I have a lighting design which will help lead people through the pace of telling the story. Like the films, I start at the beginning of the first film and I take you all the way through the end. I do this in about an hour and 10 minutes. I take a couple of little water breaks to catch my breath and talk to the audience for a second where it would naturally fall in the films.”

During one performance, Sir Ian McKellen was in the audience and seemed to love Ross’s performance. Both, Ross and MecKellen ended up talking backstage after the show and ended up giving Ross some good advice. There is not much Ross can remember about that particular performance since he felt “so self-conscious”, looking into the audience and seeing “the face of Gandalf sitting out there”.
So, if anyone is interested to enjoy an entertaining show, interpreting LOTR in a curious and unique way, here is all you need to know.

Author: Maria Messer
When Maria watched the Fellowship the very first time in cinemas, she fell hopelessly in love with Tolkien’s work. Up to the point where she lost herself in Middle Earth entirely.
When not occupied with studying, she likes to draw, hoard books, travel around (if her bank account allows it), and pretending to be a hobbit that is attending Hogwarts in order to become a jedi knight.